This invention relates generally to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to a low insertion force electrical connector.
It is common practice in aircraft to mount avionics "black boxes" on shelves with an electrical connector member mounted on the back of each box which engages with a mating connector half mounted on the rear of the shelf when the box is slid fully to the rear of the shelf. The avionics "black box" contains electronic circuitry and components necessary for controlling the various functions of the aircraft. As aircraft avionics become more complex, the number of the wires required to connect the box to the aircraft's wiring increases. The forces required to mate the two connector halves of the connector associated with each box now used in these applications is proportional to the number of contacts. For example, a box having approximately 600 contacts has an insertion or mating force of about 200 lbs. It is, therefore, desirable that a connector be utilized for this application which has a relatively low insertion force.
A variety of zero insertion force electrical connectors are known in the art. Generally speaking, these connectors are coupled with zero insertion force and, thereafter a secondary operation, such as turning a knob or handle, is required to effect engagement between the contacts in the mating connector halves. An example of such a connector is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,594,698 to Anhalt. In this connector, one connector half contains a plurality of fixed contacts while the second connector half contains a plurality of movable contact. An actuating plate is provided in such second connector half which, when shifted by a cam shaft, moves the movable contacts into electrical engagement with the fixed contacts in the first connector half. While such a zero insertion force connector provides the desired result of minimizing insertion or engagement forces of the mating connector halves, the aircraft industry has expressed a preference for utilizing electrical connectors for their avionics "black boxes" which do not require the secondary operation of actuating the contacts. Therefore, it is the purpose of the present invention to provide an electrical connector in which the connector halves may be mated with substantially lower forces than standard electrical connectors and without the necessity of operating an actuator to bring the contacts into engagement after the connector halves are mated. Another object of the invention is to provide such a connector having pin and socket contacts which are matable with standard pin and socket contacts and which may be reliably produced at a reasonable cost competitive with the cost of manufacturing standard pin and socket contacts.